Stitching Desire

This piece emerged from an exhibition I staged in 2003 at the Johannesburg Art Gallery, entitled Thimble Narratives. A thimble is an object for the prevention of pricking and thereby pain when sewing. Here it is employed as a metaphor for the role of photographic objects and resources in the experience of loss. The figure in the video embroiders a lace pattern on the back side of a faded and blown up family photograph. This is an ironic action: sewing the back to the front; feverishly embellishing the image while simultaneously destroying the simulacral illusion. In the same way perhaps we surround ourselves with photographic memorabilia (as Derrida has suggested - to prepare for loss) only to find ourselves further thrust amongst ghosts that offer no solace?